WATCH: Bills’ Keon Coleman notches first-career TD vs. Jaguars:
Keon Coleman is on the board in his NFL career.
The second-round rookie has put his team up 20-3 against the Jaguars in Week 3. His first catch of the night ended up being his first-career score from 24 yards out.
Coleman actually did not play at all to start the contest. He played zero snaps in his team’s first two drives on offense.
That’s all forgotten now.
Check out Coleman’s first touchdown in the pros and with the Bills right here:
Bills vs. Jaguars: 3 key matchups to watch in Week 3
The Buffalo Bills host the Jacksonville Jaguars in their upcoming Week 3 matchup.
Even with it being an important AFC clash, it will still be the games, within the game, that will make all the difference.
Here are three key matchups to watch during Monday’s Bills-Jaguars contest:
OL Dion Dawkins vs. Josh-Hines Allen
(Photo by Henry Browne/Getty Images)
While Hines-Allen only has recorded one sack so far in 2024, he’s still doing pretty well in for a good overall defensive front in Jacksonville. Pro Football Focus grades him as the NFL’s sixth-best edge defender through two weeks. Considering he is watching Bills quarterback Josh Allen’s blindside, Dawkins has to play well.
WR Keon Coleman vs. S Andre Cisco
(Photo by Courtney Culbreath/Getty Images)
Each week it seems like a new player is stepping up in the passing game for the Bills which has complemented the rushing efforts of James Cook very well. This might be a good time to show why Coleman is a deep threat.
PFF is not the end all, be all, but let’s be frank: It’s never good when the football analytics outlet ranks you as the worst player at your position in the entire NFL. That’s what Cisco currently is. Get Coleman on his side of the field and send him deep.
LB Baylon Spector vs. RB Travis Etienne Jr.
(Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
Spector has the confidence of his team. He is going to make his first start since the postseason in 2023 against the Kansas City Chiefs as Terrel Bernard (pectoral) is expected to miss a few weeks.
Even so, Etienne is a good playmaker. There’s a reason why Buffalo wanted to draft him years ago. Spector is not solely going to be tasked with stopped him, but when he has his shots at the running back Spector has to stop him.
Buffalo Bills rookie wide receiver Keon Coleman had a hilarious introduction to his new home following the 2024 NFL draft, and his personality continues to shine through.
From the first moment that the second-round rookie sat down for his introductory press conference, the Bills, the media, and the fans mostly thought one thing: “I love this guy.”
From the Macy’s jacket to the cookies, to naming random NBA players and not liking blue cheese, Coleman’s clips are must-watch for NFL fans.
Watch “Rookie Q&A”, the latest funny video from Coleman:
FOX Sports’ Emmanuel Acho: ‘This feels like a Josh Allen MVP year’
After seeing Josh Allen throw for two touchdowns, run for two touchdowns, and bring his team back from a 14-point deficit in Week 1âs 34-28 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, Emmanuel Acho of Fox Sports said that it âfeels like a Josh Allen MVP year.âÂ
Acho, a current NFL MVP voter, was left in awe at the performance of the Billsâ QB1.
âTo me, Josh Allen wasnât just the most impressive player on the field⊠he was the most impressive player in the National Football League [in Week 1] ⊠when you think about the most valuable player in football, itâs not just âwhat do you do for yourselfâ, but âwhat do you do for everybody around you,ââ Acho said.
Acho’s main reason for bringing Allen into the MVP conversation so early in the year is because of the way he elevates the play of his teammates, mentioning the fact that Allen elevated the game of Mack Hollins, Keon Coleman, and James Cook in the win.
âThis feels like one of those Josh Allen elevation years,â Acho said about Allen lifting those around him.
We have seen this in the past, with Allen elevating the performance of guys like John Brown, Cole Beasley, Stefon Diggs, and Gabe Davis. Not to mention former teammates such as Robert Foster and Isaiah McKenzie, who Allen helped become serviceable players while on the Bills and then they couldnât find stable production after leaving.
Acho is onto something. And he is most likely late to the party. The Bills have been witnessing Allen elevate his teammates dating back to the upset over the Minnesota Vikings in his rookie year.
The chips seem to be aligning for Allen in his seventh season: Diggs is gone which means the narrative for many now is that Allen will put the offense on his back (which he has already been doing), Joe Brady looks to be a stable play-caller who trusts Allen and gives him plenty of say in the offense, and this year the Bills have arguably the most depth at the skill positions in Allenâs tenure.
Allen got off to a hot start in Week 1 and it got a lot of people buzzing, but if he can go on the road to Hard Rock Stadium in Miami and put on a show during a win, then the MVP talks will be undeniable.
Here is the full clip of Acho praising Allen:
As an MVP voter, I can confidently say this feels like a Josh Allen MVP year.
#Bills’ Von Miller, Sean McDermott on Greg Rousseau’s ‘big time day’
Buffalo DE Greg Rousseau tied a Bills franchise record for sacks (3.0) Sunday en route to a 34-28 season home opener win.
The Bills 2021 first-round NFL Draft pick logged three sacks on Cardinals QB Kyler Murray, including a fumble.
After he notched his first sack in the first quarter, the Cardinals were racking up offensive yards and points on the Bills’ defensive unit to the tune of 191 yards and 14 first-down conversions during the first two-quarters of the game, scoring every possession except for a kneel-down to end the first half.
But Rousseau continued the dominant play he’s exhibited as of late.
The fourth-year defensive end answered and got to Murray on the first Arizona possession of the second half for an 8-yard loss on third-and-6. He followed that up with a strip sack recovered by Dorian Williams that gave Josh Allen the ball back, which the QB then threw for a touchdown pass to receiver Khalil Shakir to give the Bills a lead they built on and never relinquished.
“Yeah big time day, big time day. I love that he carried over to the game what he had shown in training camp and then the last couple weeks in practice,” HC Sean McDermott said postgame about Rousseau. “
That’s big, like when you can take how you do things from practice and do it in the game that’s a mindset right and so that’s that’s also growth and maturation in and of itself.”
The Bills head coach was not the only one to speak highly of Rousseau after the game, as OLB Von Miller took the postgame press conference podium with the young edge rusher.
“It’s a great feeling to see him grow and see him develop into one of the premier pass rushers in this league. There’s only about 5 of them and he’s one of them,” he added
A frequent headline topic this offseason has been the fifth-year option which locks Rousseau in on his rookie deal for two more years through the end of the 2025 NFL season.
Whether a precursor to an extension or a prove-it period, Rousseau is quickly making his case for the former option.
If his elevated level of play continues, the price tag to re-sign him to a new deal could go up as well, which would suggest an extension would be better sooner. Time will tell how things unfold in terms of a new deal, but for now, Rousseau is steadily earning it week to week.
And that effort was big in a comeback win on Sunday.
Josh Allen picked up right where he left off last season to begin Buffalo’s 2024 campaign with a 34-28 Bills win over the Cardinals.
The 2023 total yards and total touchdowns leader went 18 for 23 plus 232 yards and two touchdowns passing, along with 39 yards and two touchdowns rushing on nine attempts in Sunday’s victorious home opener.
His ground attack also included a signature Air Allen hurdle over 3-time all-pro and 6-time pro bowler Budda Baker for a fourth-quarter rushing score.
When asked by the press after the contest he said it was “fine.” and he’d “probably” get X-rays, which he reportedly did postgame.
“Iâm not a doctorâŠI just kinda landed on it,” he added.
The Bills got off to a slow start in the first half, and Allen lost a fumble on the first drive and had what would have been another rushing TD in the second quarter that was waived off due to a facemask penalty, before adding a rushing touchdown before the half.
He then threw scoring third-quarter tosses to receivers Khalil Shakir and Mack Hollins, respectively, before adding the leaping fourth-quarter rushing score to finish the day with 271 total yards, 4 total touchdowns, and a 137.7 passer rating while erasing a 14-point deficit to complete the come-from-behind win.
The acrobatic aerial score caused a buzz among fans and teammates alike.
“I was like, that’s our Josh, that’s what he does man,” said DE AJ Epenesa.
“I was just screaming.” receiver Khalil Shakir shared during his postgame press conference. “True competitor. True warrior. I would follow that guy into a battle any day.”
Offensive lineman Dion Dawkins went so far as to wax poetic when describing Sunday’s Josh Allen experience.
“He continues to show the world to stop playing with his name,” the Bills tackle said. He also noted “After the National Anthem, I thought it was a flyover, I just said ‘shoot what goes up must come down’, and I hope he comes down in the endzone, and he did. You know, that big quarterback, itâs hard to stop that, especially when youâre flying. We all wish we could be like a bird, or an eagle, or shoot, even a dove, and Josh is that every game, so hey, I salute him, I’m glad he’s here, I’m glad he’s my quarterback.”
Regarding the status of the left-hand injury, head coach Sean McDermott noted to the media “Always concern (for all injuries). I’ll know more in the next couple of hours.”
Allen did manage expectations during his postgame press conference when asked to break down the hurdle play.
“Just kind of again, split-second situations,” he noted about the airborne TD with a smile. “The first rushing touchdown I kind of lowered the shoulder knowing that was a corner, the second time I know was Buddha, and Buddha’s he’s a good player and he’ll lay the boom on you so I decided to go up and over but, you know, probably can’t make a living in doing that but here we are.”
Dalton Kincaid named ‘X-Factor’ for #Bills offense in 2024:
The 2024 NFL season is officially underway, and it will be an important one for the Buffalo Bills.
It will take a full, team effort in all three phases to continue to compete without any dropoff, despite many roster changes at key positions with new and younger talent on board.
Even still, an impact player can have a special impact on their respective unit, and ESPN has named who those players may be for each team with their NFL X factors for 2024 season: Key players for all 32 teams list.
The outlet picked receiving tight end Dalton Kincaid for Buffalo.
Two-hundred and forty-one targets: That’s how many vacated opportunities are left behind as both Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis left Buffalo this offseason. The Bills have opted for a committee approach at wide receiver, which I like, but to whom does Josh Allen turn on third-and-6 among his many options? For whom does offensive coordinator Joe Brady design the “gotta have it” play?
That player might be Kincaid, whom the Bills drafted with the intention of becoming an offense that can run through an elite pass-catching tight end. He was an efficient, high-volume target last season — his 73 catches were third highest for a rookie tight end since 1970 — but that cushy underneath gig worked only when Diggs and Davis were pushing the defense downfield. If the Buffalo offense is to work with this new look, Kincaid must be used downfield more frequently — or develop a George Kittle-like profile after the catch.
The former is far more likely, and the good news is this: Kincaid catches everything. 77.7 reception rate is amazing, even for the easy targets he was offered. As his trust with Allen grows, expect him to start leading the Bills in targets in more games than he doesn’t, and watch for Brady to scheme around Kincaid’s versatility in alignment and routes to open up other players as well. He’s the skeleton key of this passing attack.
Kincaid, the Bills’ first-round pick in 2023, shined in his first year with Buffalo, setting records as a rookie and making a consistent impact for the offense.
The Bills will certainly hope he can build on such a strong rookie campaign and help take on some of that vacated workload left behind by the departures of Diggs and Davis.
They will need him to continue to play the versatile and go-to target role he took on more and more last season, including the Diggs plays and looks he gradually took on as the 2023 campaign progressed.
At age 24, Kincaid has already seen a successful sample size share on offense in Buffalo in only his first season with the Bills. With his elite hands and positional versatility, he figures to see more opportunities to improve on that impressive rookie campaign with the Diggs/Davis workload needing to be distributed among reliable targets.
#Bills vs. #Cardinals: 3 reasons for optimism in Week 1:
The Buffalo Bills will open up the 2024 regular season at home in Orchard Park on Sunday, taking on the Arizona Cardinals at Highmark Stadium.
The two teams will meet for the first time since the Cardinals upset the Bills in the final moments of a 2020 contest with a play know dubbed the “Hail Murray.” Both clubs, however, are fielding very different teams now than when they last met.
The Bills are both a favorite to win their division as well as to make the playoffs, while the Cardinals enter Week 1 with Kyler Murray looking to bounce back from a poor season and injuries.
The Bills are playing with a renewed sense of purpose, having revamped their roster, and are looking to get their season started with a win.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen will kick off his first full season in a Joe Brady offense. The team’s offensive weaponry has been restocked and replenished to perhaps be it’s. deepest during GM Brandon Beane and HC Sean McDermott’s tenures.
Will the results show early or will it take time? The good money is on the Bills picking up where they left off last season, tailoring schemes to opponents, finding the open targets in the passing game, and openings for ground gains.
In the air, players like receiving tight end Dalton Kincaid and slot receiver Khalil Shakir can provide reliable targets, opening up opportunities for veteran TE Dawson Knox and free agent addition WR Curtis Samuel, as well as rookie wideout Keon Coleman.
On the ground, Buffalo boasts its most robust rushing group in the Beane/McDermott era as well, as Brady’s rushing attack has mobilized Allen and RB1 James Cook, who are now joined by Samuel’s backfield gadgetry (which was previously maximized under Brady in Carolina,) and by rookie receiving running back Ray Davis. Add the bolstering to the teams’ O-line the past two offseasons, and the offense may be better in 2024.
While the team’s newer additions may take a little time to adjust to the Bills’ offense or, for rookies, the pro level, their talent and skills will come into play early, and returning players should keep things rolling with Allen leading the charge.
Defensive Turnovers
(Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports)
Under McDermott, the Bills have consistently fielded a competitive defense that, at times, has been among the top in the NFL in different categories.
This offseason has seen much turnover in personnel on both sides of the ball, and yet another injury to impact linebacker Matt Milano that will keep him sidelined until at least December if not the entire 2024 regular season.
Even still, Buffalo has some bright spots from the potential emergence of DE Greg Rousseau as a dominant pass-rushing threat to a return-to-form from OLB Von Miller, the assertion of LB Terrel Bernard to defensive captain to the depth in the secondary group.
The potential to impact games in all three phases has grown exponentially in terms of talent on the defensive roster, and we may see those results early and often this season. And that may come from scoring defensive points, forcing turnovers and changes in possession, and dominating the possession time which can be game changers.
Those groups will be tasked with containing Murray, as well as limiting the impact of TE Trey McBride and the Cardinals running backs group. Not to mention their new WR1 Marvin Harrison Jr.
In facing Murray, it also doesn’t hurt that the Bills have had past success defending mobile quarterbacks such as Lamar Jackson, Russell Wilson, Tua Tagovailoa, and Patrick Mahomes.
Coaching Impact
(Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports)
McDermott will tentatively be unburdened with shouldering both head coach and playcalling duties as newly promoted DC Bobby Babich will get his first regular-season look running the defense.
The Bills head coach and his staff have worked to improve this offseason in areas that include challenges, and while they have new coordinators on both sides of the ball, their OC has seen success in the role at both the collegiate and pro levels and their staffs on both sides of the ball have seen some replenishment as well.
McDermott’s experience and success during his Bills tenure and emphasis on winning in all three phases give him and his team a competitive advantage following an offseason committed to improvement from the top down. Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon, meanwhile, has only one unceremonious season under his belt that featured a mixture of growing pains of a roster in transition peppered with some bright spots.
Considering his position, quarterback Josh Allen being named a team captain for the Buffalo Bills ahead of the 2024 NFL season might be thought of as obvious.
Top rookie draft pick Keon Coleman has only known Allen a few months. That’s all it took for the wide receiver to be convinced. Coleman even referred to his QB as “big brother” while speaking to reporters.
“He ain’t get named the captain, he earned that,” Coleman said. “He’s a very vocal guy, he leads by example, he leads by communicating.”
On the flip side of Coleman is offensive lineman Dion Dawkins. He has been teammates with Allen since 2018.
In a natural-Dion way, he called Allen a unique captain and a lot of it has nothing to do with football. Allen is not a guy that just leaves a relationship at the office, he’s willing to put in the work outside of it.
“Some people would leave the building, ‘Alright, I’ll see my team tomorrow,'” Dawkins said. “Josh is one of those guys that’s like, ‘Come over, let’s play pickleball, let me show you a magic trick.'”
A trademark Dawkins analogy, but he added that he was “serious” about all of it.
Dawkins’ full Allen breakdown can be found in the WROC-TV clip below:
Dion Dawkins said Josh Allen is the type of leader that "opens up his phone" to his teammates.
Here's what that means. As always with Dion, a great explanation.
